Snippets
Den: “Somehow I always pictured breatfeeding as a quiet activity.” (As Kate grunts, squeaks, smacks her lips, and otherwise makes a full range of animated noises while eating.)
Sometimes breastfeeding feels like an extended game of “pin the tail on the donkey.” And the donkey won’t lay still.
Hiccups that wake my baby up after we’ve finally gotten her to sleep are effing annoying. Kate agrees.
Kate now has much more awake time, which is good. However she has a short attention span and doesn’t know what to do with her awake time, this is bad.
We have a fussy girl who doesn’t want to sleep. Sigh.
I just wanted to comment that early on my son was the same way…he would nap for minutes at a time before jerking himself awake. I also learned, early on, that the longer he slept in increments during the day, the better he slept at night, and the better mood he was generally in. So, I learned that getting him to sleep and keeping him asleep were key. We did a LOT of jiggling in those early weeks and months. Jiggling the bassinet when he would wake until he went back to sleep, or jiggling the pack n play. Or swinging him in his car seat (although now they have a swing that the car seat fits into). He did his fair share of sleeping on us, but during the day, he was mostly in the bassinet and I’d jiggle away…
This could’ve been me a few months ago. It will pass (somewhat). For us, it got MUCH better, and then it got a little worse, so it’s like 2 steps forward, one step back, but it’s still forward motion. Hang in there.
How long is Kate awake between naps?
She’s only awake for like 15-30 minutes after breastfeeding, but today she spends that whole time crying. Not screaming, but the whiny “wah” cry. She doesn’t want to be on her mat, in her swing, sat up and talked to… She’s not happy, period. I think it’s gas. She wants to nurse, but I get the feeling more milk sometimes makes her feel worse, more gas. Arg.
My son was very fussy starting at 2 weeks. He actually was colicky in the true definition-he cried for 3 hours straight every night from 8 to 11. The things that helped us were: wearing him in a Moby wrap or Baby Bjorn in the early evening and during the colic period (I read that idea in Dr. Sears book-The Baby Book), cutting out all dairy from my diet, and reflux medication (he spit up a lot too). You probably won’t need to do all those things but one of those things might help. My daughter, however, wasn’t colicky and didn’t spit up much but she was like Kate in that she didn’t know what to do when she was awake except for cry! So, I am sending hugs to ya and just know that others have been through the same thing!
“We have a fussy girl who doesn’t want to sleep. Sigh.”
*listens to someone whinging from the other room*
Methinks… you’ll probably be getting used to saying that phrase. But hopefully after a good night’s rest, rather than because you’ve not slept in days. :)
Hang in there Nat..You´re probably hating me for saying that (I hated that saying! lol) but this will pass.
BFing has phases at first.Sometimes you think you have it sorted,then baby has a growth spurt and you are all over the place again etc
You´ll go back and forth for a while ;)
Its VERY hard at first..VERY.
My husband often commented on how he thought it would be different too.
He´d look over at me crying,Noelia squirming,grunting and being super fussy,and he´d say “isnt that supposed to be beautiful and peaceful?” lol.
Of course,we did get to that beautiful stage in BFing.Where she would eat in 10 minutes,burp,poop then comfort nurse for 10 more minutes just to fall alseep..
Noe was about 3 months old when she turned “pro” lol
Once you get over that evil first trimester,you should be good to go..honestly,soon you will find that everything just falls into a great place ;)
Hugs Nat..I know its hard!! Vent all you need to vent because we all understand and can relate to how you are feeling on those bad days ;)
I hope you get some sleep soon..I dont think there´s anything worse than being over tired and not being able to sleep.